We often search for happiness, yet we stay stuck in our same routine wishing, hoping, and dreaming for success, change, and happiness. I wanted to share seven proven strategies guaranteed to dramatically improve your happiness and help you in achieve success in any area of your life, if you apply them.

1. Wherever you are today is a result of what you’ve done in the past.

Take responsibility for the choices you’ve made. Learn from them and move on. Let go of the mistake but don’t lose the lesson. Don’t focus on the pain of your past, focus on your purpose for the future. This frame of mind alone can turn your life around.

2. “You become what you think about all day,” Earl Nightingale once said.

Have you ever noticed while driving your car that if you keep looking to the right, you eventually go to the right? Keep looking to the left and your car veers left? What you think about and focus on becomes reality. So focus on achieving success and be specific with your goals.

3. The books you read and the people you interact with most determine 90% of your success.

So surround yourself with successful, positive people. Join a mastermind group. It can consist of like-minded individuals all around the country where you talk by phone once a week. Attend business and personal development seminars to find the right people. Who are the people you spend the most time with? What about their goals, values, and priorities? Do they have any goals?! You are an average of the five people you spend the most time with. Try this exercise: Add up their yearly income and divide by five. Most likely your income is within 10% of that sum. You can spend time with people less successful than you and feel like a big fish, but as you discover your passion and climb the ladder of success, those same people will drag you down and discourage your dreams.

4. Make the books you read be about achieving personal and professional success.

Invest at least 3% of your yearly income in personal and professional development books, CD’s, e-books, teleseminars, webinars and the like. If you’re pressed for time, listen to motivational CD’s in your car. The average person spends 500 to 1000 hours per year in their cars. Turn your car into a virtual mobile classroom.

5. Reprogram your mind.

You’ve heard the phrase “stinking thinking.” To reprogram your mind with positive thoughts, spend a few minutes upon awakening reading inspirational literature or something related to the field you are passionate about. Do the same thing within that last hour before bedtime. The subconscious mind is most amenable to suggestion the first hour upon awakening, and that last hour before retiring.

6. The mirror exercise.

Every morning getting up and every evening going to bed, give yourself pep talks. At first you will feel embarrassed and ridiculous, but this technique is very powerful. Ruben Gonzalez, three time Olympian in the luge, was the keynote speaker this weekend. He told how his friend used to make him stand in front of a mirror and say to himself with emotion, “No matter how terrible it gets I am going to make it happen!” He would say this over and over until he believed it. Saying it with emotion will help your dream manifest itself more quickly.

7. Learn to overcome procrastination.

Most people procrastinate doing something because they fear it. For example, if you’re procrastinating learning a new software program, take classes or hire a tutor. If that skill is necessary in helping you achieve an important goal you must do it. Also, do the thing you like least first. The more you think about what you “should” do and procrastinate, the harder it is to get started, and your anxiety is compounded. Think how much better, lighter (and more confident) you’ll feel when it’s complete.

Celebrate your successes and reward yourself for even small accomplishments. All work and no play serves as a de-motivator. The larger the success, the larger the reward. Have you ever noticed how much you accomplish right before a vacation? You’re looking forward to that reward and you don’t want to think about it when you’re on vacation. Do the same thing with these simple steps. Apply them. Work them.

Focus on your dreams not the fear. The price of success is huge, but the price of regret is worse. Increase your self-belief and increase your desire. Ask yourself, “Who am I?” “What do I want to be?” And go do that.

Melissa Krivachek President of Briella Arion is deeply & passionately committed to the growth & effectiveness of leaders, teams, and organizations. Melissa is a High Caliber Leadership, Sales, and Personal Growth Expert, Author, Speaker, Coach, and Life Enthusiast! To IGNITE your Purpose, Presence, Passion, & Profit visit Briellaarion.com or Ignite-Leadership.com.

Melissa Krivachek is the President of Briella Arion, Inc. As the International Best-Selling Author of BOLD! Helping You Unleash The Hero Within, Be A Baller! The Blueprint To Have It All, and, Be Ballsy! How Not To Suck At Love, Success, and Happiness. she loves teaching entrepreneurs across the globe how they can have it all —, all at the same time. Love, Success, & Happiness. Chosen as Evolution Magazine’s “Power Player Under 40” honored by the National Council of American Executives as the Top 1% of US Executives in 2014 and featured on CNN, Forbes, ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, and FOX, in addition to receiving dozens of other accolades, Melissa’s passion for growth resonates with entrepreneurs looking to break-through the ceiling of complexity to build sustainable million dollar + businesses.